Is shale gas a good thing?

[jean]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frac

But this doesn't seem all that solid a claim at the moment...

That Wiki article is about frac. It's when you add -ing that the problems start.

We will need to frace ourselves for the consequences...

Exactly!

[vinteuil]

That Wiki article is about frac. It's when you add -ing that the problems start.

i'm sure it has to be "fracking".

Tarmac - tarmacking, tarmacked
Shellac - shellacking, shellacked

There may be others...

[ahinton]

i'm sure it has to be "fracking".

Tarmac - tarmacking, tarmacked
Shellac - shellacking, shellacked

There may be others...

Well, there's
Hack - hacking, hacked...

But you're right; that's the way I've seen it spelt most commonly. I still have grave reservations about it, however, irrespective of the way in which it might be spelt, but I wouldn't want to start a fracas over it...

[jean]

Same sort of problem occurs when you abbreviate microphone.

We used to be happy with mike, but recently mic has become common, which leads to similar problems:

http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=576852

(This really should be on the Pedantry thread, shouldn't it?)

[teamsaint]

Not sure I see what your concern is with regard to corruption.

Re pollution: of course there's a potential for this when fracing. But the EA has said (rightly, in my opinion) that this risk can be contained by careful regulation.

Your last sentence is garbled but the relevance of fracing to the UK generation capacity crisis (and crisis is the right word) is NIL because, as I said, it'll take at least ten years to get any UK fracing industry up and running.

Dave2002: re that figure from Matt Ridley. He just gave the figure as a throw-away-line, and I'm not aware of any reference. My engineering gut instinct and experience tells me it probably isn't far off the mark. After all, the 7 GW installed wind capacity will only produce ~1,500 MW of equivalent production (and perhaps as little as 280 MW of firm capacity if EdF's figures are to be believed) - two CCGTs. So can one multi-well fracing pad stretching over 25 acres produce ~3,000 MW of thermal energy? Seems possible.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Browne,_Baron_Browne_of_Madingley

The " Fracking tzar" and also a Chairman and Shareholder of Cuadrilla. Well the corruption issue worries me, and plenty of others

As for the shortage of generating capacity and the supposed 10 year time scale....well just makes it all the easier to hurry things along. Just an opinion, I know.
Oh , and I re read the sentence, seems clear to me.

[Beef Oven]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Br...e_of_Madingley

The " Fracking tzar" and also a Chairman and Shareholder of Cuadrilla. Well the corruption issue worries me, and plenty of others

As for the shortage of generating capacity and the supposed 10 year time scale....well just makes it all the easier to hurry things along. Just an opinion, I know.
Oh , and I re read the sentence, seems clear to me.

But the exam question is, 'is shale gas a good thing?'

Seems like the answer is yes, it is a good thing, and if we can find an appropriate governance framework for its expedition, it could be winners all 'round.

[teamsaint]

no its a bad thing.
It is a fossil fuel. Its non renewable. It is polluting. it is mired in corruption.
do you want a well near YOUR house?
we can and must do better.

[Beef Oven]

no its a bad thing.
It is a fossil fuel. Its non renewable. It is polluting. it is mired in corruption.
do you want a well near YOUR house?
we can and must do better.

You forgot 'see me' :-)

[teamsaint]

You forgot 'see me' :-)

Sorry.:(
See me.
Detention in Big School Room, thursday 4.00.

[Beef Oven]

Sorry.:(
See me.
Detention in Big School Room, thursday 4.00.

Detentions were Saturdays at my school, so wasting an hour on a Thursday afternoon is a synch. Bring it on!

Better get back on topic, or we'll both get told off.

[jean]

...wasting an hour on a Thursday afternoon is a synch...

Better get back on topic, or we'll both get told off.

Before you do - shouldn't that be cinch?

[Beef Oven]

Before you do - shouldn't that be cinch?

Yes. But I misspelt it on purpose to see if anyone would notice !!!!!!

[teamsaint]

Yes. But I misspelt it on purpose to see if anyone would notice !!!!!!

I noticed, but assumed that your spelling is rubbish.

C minus.
Repeat test next week.

[Dave2002]

AIC (or anyone else ...)

Is the total generating capacity in the UK currently just under 100 GW? I have only found figures for 2004, when the capacity was under 80 GW.

What is the maximum typical load? How much capacity do we actually need?

I was surprised at the comment about the wind farms only generating a max of 7GW, but if anything that seems an over estimate.
There aren't too many plants which go above 1 GW. The now defunct Japanese nuclear power station was I think under 4 GW.

[An_Inspector_Calls]

Dave2002
Both questions are somewhat "How long's a piece of string". Both vary so much with time.

The question about our capacity to meet demand becomes a very difficult question. Security of supply was the responsibility of the CEGB. Nowadays (since 1990) no one has responsibility for security of supply! However, the powers that be are getting uneasy as they've had several warnings from aged, retired CEGB employees that all might not be well. So much so that Ofgem decided to commission NGT to study this question. They reported in 2012 (the first time such a study had been done since 1985!). The report Electricity Capacity Assessment is available on their website (sorry, I haven't got the link). The report is very well written and easy to understand if you want to learn more. The summary and Appendices 3 and 4 are very good.

We appear to have a decreasing capacity margin falling to 4 % in 2015. The report author thinks we'll get away with this, and we just might if we don't have any serious plant or transmission problems. Already they're planning to resort to private, emergency diesel generators, and action not seen since the miner's strike (and very expensive as well). In the days of yore, planning to a time horizon of two years to achieve a probability of no more that 4 serious disruptions in 100 years they'd have wanted a 20 % margin.

Back to shale gas, and I see even the Guardian, in a balanced article for a change, seems in favour:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2013/jul/08/shale-gas-fracking-good-for-environment?INTCMP=SRCH

Davey's enthusiastic:

http://www.energylivenews.com/2013/07/10/i-love-shale-gas-davey-confirms-again/